Miami Rentals Drop, Defy National Trend

The housing market's continual funk may be helping landlords, but not when it comes to Miami rentals. Take Beatriz Carrazana, tenant in Miami's Vue condominium in the Brickell area. She recently re-signed her lease for another year with no raise in rent. And if there's an area that's hot for rentals, it's the trendy, rent-affordable mass of condominiums in affluent Brickell. It's the reason they invented the term location, location, location.

This goes against what a recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported as a trend in rising rents in several markets including foreclosure-filled Las Vegas.

Another tenant I interviewed who rents on Miami Beach, yet another South Florida market that remains desirable, concurred: Her rent remains the same.

Realtor Patrick Jaimez of Coldwell Banker, who works in the Aventura area and owns five- and seven-unit apartment buildings in North Miami, told AOL Real Estate that despite his low vacancy he still gets flooded with calls whenever he advertises one of his units for rent.

"I have yet to see any significant rate increases in my market," he says.

But it's only a matter of time, as demand continues to increase that there

may be landlords raising their tenants' rent. Since June 2010, Jaimez hasn't seen anything dramatic, nothing where prices are skyrocketing -- yet.

Of course, the most sought-after areas will continue to be the ones with A-rated schools and areas like Miami Beach, Aventura in north Miami-Dade County as well as the consistently sought after Downtown Miami, Upper East Side and trendy Midtown.

"People have been flooding to these areas because they were great bargains and even the owners that have been able to hold on have found their units in better demand," says Jaimez. "Definitely, I don't see the bargains we had out there two to three years ago."

Want to know how to deal with other rental issues? Here are some AOL Real Estateguides that can help: